


Crescendo

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Badass Poe Dameron, Conflicted Kylo Ren, Conflicted Poe Dameron, Hopeful Ending, Inspirational Speeches, Kylo Ren Has Issues, M/M, Minor Finn/Rey (Star Wars), Minor Rose Tico/Jannah, POV Alternating, Past Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Past Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Trailer, TROS TV Spots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21675037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: Poe Dameron rallies the Resistance against the First Order. Based on the trailer and various TV spots for The Rise of Skywalker.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron/Kylo Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16
Collections: Allbingo





	Crescendo

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Saudade (Portuguese): The feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost.
> 
> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: As for if this ties in with my NaNo...well, it kind of got away with me. Also, Poe’s line about Kylo raising a hand in anger was kind of borrowed from a Superman comic. So sue me.

It was Poe’s job to rally the troops. That he could do — he had done it with Black Squadron before, on a smaller scale. This was different, naturally — this could be the final battle. This could be the end of everything, whether they won or they lost.   
  
Poe didn’t want to think of what would happen if they lost.   
  
He stood before the others, looking through the crowd despite himself, studying everyone. He noticed Rose holding Jannah’s hand, the Kef Bir warrior giving her a reassuring wink, Black Squadron standing attentively with that gleam in their eyes like they would follow him to hell and back. Rey, standing beside Finn, everyone looking towards General Dameron to hear what he was going to say.   
  
“Beings of the Resistance,” Poe began. “This has been a long fight, and a difficult one. I’m not going to lie to any one of you — we’ve lost good people over the course of a year. The First Order wants us to believe that we’re alone. On Crait, they nearly made us believe that. They didn’t just want to defeat us, to kill us, but to break us — to snuff out hope.” Even thinking about Ben — his former lover. Still his lover, in a way? He didn’t know. His feelings about Ben were a tangled web, refusing to simply rest on “love” or “hate” — becoming something like that made him feel sick. “But they’re wrong,” Poe said. “We’re not alone. People will fight if we need them! There are multiple beings throughout the galaxy who cannot be crushed, who cannot be vanquished, no matter what the First Order does. There is good in this galaxy, beauty in this galaxy, that has to be preserved from the wildfire that the First Order is spreading. When we take up arms...” Poe paused. “When we take up arms, go out there, we don’t fight them out of hatred or revenge. It is tempting. But we fight them for the systems that could have suffered the same fate as the Hosnian system and still need us. We fight them to liberate the stormtrooper children who were taken from their families, who did nothing wrong and were turned into living weapons by a system that claims the ends justify the means. We fight them in memory of everyone they corrupted, killed, tortured, and performed cruelties that I doubt I can completely list. We fight them to ensure a better future, a better tomorrow — for every planet, every star, every moon, _everywhere and everyone in this galaxy._ Adults, children, human, droid, alien species — everything we do, we do for them. The First Order doesn’t respect life. They talk about bringing order in place of chaos, but from the beginning, it’s always been fanaticism. Loyalty to an Empire built on the back of corruption. It won’t be an easy fight, but it will be a fight worth fighting.” Poe blinked, and he hoped that his tears weren’t about to fall. “Always.”  
  
Finn led the cheers, of course. Even as Poe stepped off-stage, the former stormtrooper looked over at him. “You did good,” Finn said. “Poe — you have no idea how many people in the Resistance would be willing to take a blaster bolt for you.”  
  
Poe knew, in turn, he’d take one for them. He could only hope, against hope, that someone could be salvaged from the First Order. Not only the stormtrooper kids, or the Knights of Ren, but Ben.   
  
_If you knew how much I still loved you, how much General Organa loved you, you would never raise a hand in rage again._  
  
***  
  
The Force Bond worked in numerous ways. Sometimes Kylo Ren could feel impressions of Rey over it, sometimes he could be there in the same space as her, even though he didn’t see her surroundings. In this case, the Bond — he couldn’t see her surroundings...but he could hear Poe Dameron’s voice. Kylo wasn’t about to launch an attack in that moment — torturing Poe was bad enough. (A mental invasion. Kylo had vomited after his first interrogation, and Snoke had mocked him for “having too much compassion”. He thought he’d hardened, but torturing Poe — he could still remember how, once he was thankfully out of earshot of General Hux, he’d nearly broken down. You thought that inflicting pain got easier. You were wrong) He couldn’t help but stiffen; he hadn’t had time with everything that had happened since the escape from the _Finalizer_ but he had been almost hungry to hear any shred of Poe’s voice. And even hearing Poe’s voice swell...Kylo could picture it, an angel with broken wings forming an army to take him down.  
  
 _He’s lying. He must be._ Everything he’d done — he could remember Snoke, how the ex-Supreme Leader had painted such a vivid picture of a galaxy at peace. _Think, young Solo — do you think that the Republic could keep the peace? They can barely save slaves on Tatooine or scavengers on Jakku or, for that matter, pilots trying to avoid the screams of the dying._ And Ben Solo — though Kylo Ren shuddered to think of that name now — had thought of Poe, how much _time_ he’d spent defending a Republic that didn’t deserve his loyalty, his devotion. Poe had gone a young man of eighteen thinking he could make a difference in the New Republic Navy. Poe had come back with so much hope still, but a knowledge of war being hell that someone as rare as Poe Dameron never should have experienced.  
  
And Snoke had preyed on that. Of course he did. There wasn’t an insecurity he didn’t know, a flaw he couldn’t dig into. Had it been Kylo’s fault for being so gullible? For wanting to protect Poe and heal a galaxy that seemed to never stop screaming?  
  
 _Poe — how did the galaxy I had in mind for you, the galaxy I created for you...how did it get to the point you want to destroy it?_  
  
It would have been preferable if his internal conflict had died with Snoke. Instead, Kylo thought...the fact that “Kylo” meant victorious was a kriffing joke. Jedi Killer, Supreme Leader — also a joke. He didn’t feel victorious. He felt _lost._  
  
 _I want to be free of this pain._ That was what he had said to his father on the bridge. On the Starkiller planet. And it seemed that no matter how much he wanted to cut everything out, get the poison out of his veins, he wasn’t successful. Like every attempt to stop it just made him _weaker..._  
  
It was a good thing that in his throne room, he was alone. Hux wasn’t there — even though Kylo could sense that the now-Grand Marshal was growing increasingly restless and ready to revolt. In the privacy of his throne room, he could pray, even though his grandfather’s mask wasn’t there, for strength. Strength to finally emerge victorious, his chains broken, the strength to face the Resistance (including what was left of his family), strength to face Poe Dameron.  
  
All to preserve the galaxy he wanted to reshape. All, in a strange, circular way, for Poe.   
  
All this, all of it, for him.   
  
***  
  
Poe was relieved, truthfully, when the speech was over. When he could retire to his quarters. He had done a good job at keeping a sabaac face — he was always good at that. It was in the privacy of his quarters he could let down his defenses. They would be launching the attack on the First Order tomorrow — of course, it meant that he’d have to sacrifice Ben.   
  
If Ben Solo was still there.   
  
He had to be. It was ridiculous to think about the man who had hurt you, and yet Poe could remember too vividly a little boy running around looking for his dad, a teenager confiding in him about not feeling good enough. A young man, a lover, who seemed to think of him as the most beautiful being in the galaxy.  
  
 _Save the galaxy. Protect it. Be who you were born to be — what I could never be._ Ben had said that, before he left Yavin behind. He hadn’t understood it then. He understood it now.   
  
_For you, Ben,_ he thought. He would bring the First Order down to honor Ben’s wishes before Snoke had twisted him. Broken his mind. _And just for good measure...I’ll bring you home._  
  
After all, who was Poe but someone who would do anything, even the seemingly impossible?


End file.
